Discover Prince William

Discover Prince William & Manassas Website

The Situation

In 1861, the Battle of First Manassas/Bull Run served as a pivotal turning point in the Civil War. 150 years later, as the nation looked to commemorate the “moment that changed America,” the Prince William & Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) saw the Battle as a potential turning point in its efforts to boost tourism.

The Strategy

With plans underway for a historic, two-day reenactment of the Battle, the CVB needed a website to support and highlight 150th Sesquicentennial Anniversary events. The website needed to drive visitation not just to the 2011 reenactment event, but also to events to be staged over a five-year commemoration of the Civil War.

The Solution

Creating Results was contracted by the CVB to design and build a website that would serve as hub of promotion for commemoration within destination. To drive awareness to an already well known battle among Civil War enthusiast and ensure a high volume of internet website searches the unique URL ManassasBullRun.com was utilized. Features included social share, photo gallery, ticket purchase and reenactor registration portals for reenactment. Finally, it needed to spotlight and drive traffic to event sponsors and partners.

Then, after the reenactment, the site would transition to an education portal highlighting the historical significance of the destination. This would encourage repeat visitation and capture historic or heritage tourism consumers who could not attend the first reenactment.

The Results

The website received 186,372 visits within the first six months, with 9,123 visits taking place the day before the reenactment (the highest single-day visitation). The website continues to attract online visitors, receiving more than 201,000 visitors since launching.

The two-day reenactment welcomed more than 27,000 participants from the U.S. and around the world, including 8,700 Civil War reenactors, 18,500 ticketed spectators and more than 300 volunteers. The county enjoyed an estimated $27.3 million economic boost from historic and event-related tourism. Several area hotels reported maximum capacity leading up to and during the event.

With a focus on Civil War perspectives and events taking place over the next four years, the site continues to reach history enthusiasts and drive visitation to the many historical sites within the destination.

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